Protecting device for cashiers windows and the like



Oct. 18, 1932. c. A. SCHEELER 1,882,967 I PROTECTING DEVICE FOR CASHIERS WINDOWS AND THE LIKE Filed July 24, 1951 llllllli kill: 15

Patented Oct. 18, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE cmnms A. s'cnnnnnn, O1 nnrrnnonnw YORK, ASSIGNOR r0 BUFFALO wrnn worms 'C0.,"I1\TC., or BUFZFAIJQ,"1\TEW'YOBK, A CORPORATION Orn'uw YORK PROTECTING DEVICE FOR CASHIE'RS WINDOWS AND THE LIKE a plication filed July 24, 11931. sen'n No. 552,823.

.This invention relates to a bank fixture adapted to be placed in albullet-proof part1- tion to permit of oral conversation between a person on one side of the partition, such as the depositor, and a person on the other side of the partitiomsuch as the teller,'-and which also provides a gun port which permits the teller to manipulate a firearm through the partition and defend the bank against holdups, but prevents the insertion of the firearm through the partition the other directlon by the criminal.

The present invention is an improvement on the bank fixture shown and described in Patent Number 1,576,655, granted March 16,

.1926 to Charles A. Honslnger.

The primary object of a bank fixture of this type is to protect the lives of bank officia-ls and clerks by providing speaking and gun ports for bu-llet proof partition-s which permit a bank customer and a bank clerk to carry one conversation through such partitions by the provision of-a bullet-proof speak- O ing device in the'partition and also to provide in such a fixture a gun port having a trap door adjacent the speaking tube, which one-way trap door is adapted to be actuated by a firearm in the hands of a clerk, and permits the bank clerk aiming a firearm in different directions toprevent the escape of the robber but doesnot permit the robber to insert a firearm in the opposite direction through the gun port and fire upon the bank clerk. In such types of bank fixtures as have before been used, such as the Honsi-nger gun port previously referred 'to, the trap door has been so arranged and formed that it was possible for the robber to apply a suction cup to the trap door of the gun port, draw it open by means of such suction, and fire upon the bank clerk in the cage. The present invention is particularly directed to a gun port trap door for such a bank fixture which entirely prevents the application of a suction cupto the door and its being opened up in this manner. In the accompanying drawing:

7 Figure 1 is a front elevation of a bank fixture made in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a vertical, central section through the same and showing a manner in which it is mounted in .a bullet-proof partition.

Figure 3 is a'vertical section taken on line.

3-3,.Fig. 2, and showing the bank fixture removed from the bullet-proof partition.

F igu-re 4 is a horizontal section taken on line H, Fig. 2.

In its general organization =this' invention,

comprises a bank fixture which is arranged tion through thefixture but is so protected that bullets cannot be fired through the speaking tube so as to injurethe bank clerk and is also so designed asto provide an outwardly opening trap door overa gun port which permits the bank clerk to through the bank fixture but prevents a bank robber from forcing a gun through in the opposite direction, this trap door being roughened or corrugated on its outer face so as to prevent the application of a suction cup thereto and being also made of a non-mag netic material so that the robber cannot ap- (ply a magnet to it and draw open the trap oor.

The reference numeral 5 representsa bullet-p-roof partition, wall or other bank fixture which may be made of any transparent bullet-proof glass or may, of course,,be made of bullet-proof screening. 7 The partition is provided with a vertically disposed oblong opening 6 and in this opening the bank-fixture embodying the present invention is mounted. The bank fixture comprises a front plate 7 having a gun port 8 adjacent its lower end and a speaking tube 9 "adjacent its upper -end.' This front plate 7 fits against the outer side of the partition 5 around the margin of the opening 6 and also projects into the opening 6 and has its rear face arranged substantially flush with the rear face of the partition 5. Attached to the rear face of the front plate 7 by means of screws 10 or in any other suitable manner is a rear plate 11 whichfits against the rear face of the partition 5 about the opening '6, the parproject a firearm 'out' tition 5 being clamped between the front plate 7 and rear plate 11 so that these plates are firmly held in the partition opening 6. The screws 10, of course, extend through the two plates 7 and 11 from the rear side of the fixture. The lower end of the rear plate 11 is also formed to provide a tubular extension 12 which leads to the gun port 8 and permits the barrel of a firearm to be passed through the gun port 8. The rear plate 11 also has an opening 13 which registers with the speaking tube 9 and permits of direct communication through the bank fixture.

To prevent the firing of bullets through the speaking tube 9 from the outside of the partition this speaking tube is protected by a bullet-proof guard which is preferably constructed as follows:

On its rear side and disposed around the opening 13, the rear plate is provided with a plurality of rearwardly projecting lugs 14, three being shown. Against the rear ends of these lugs 1 1 is arranged an apertured baffle plate 15, the apertures 16 of this plate being preferably arranged near the center "thereof and being visible through the speaking tube 9. This plate 15 is also provided with rearwardly extending lugs 17 which preferably register with the lugs 14 of the rear plate 11 r and to the rear sides of these lugs 17 is secured a second apertured baffle plate 18. The apertures 19 of this second bafiie plate 18 are preferably arranged adjacent the margin of this plate but in any event must be out of register with the aperture 16 of the baffle plate 15 so that if a bullet is fired through the speaking tube 9 there is no danger of fragments of a bullet striking the teller or bank clerk. The two bafile plates 15 and 18 are preferably held in place by screws 20 which extend through the rear baffle plate 18, lugs 17 of the front baflie plate 15, and into the lugs 14: of the rear plate 11. It is apparent that by this construction a conversation can be held through the speaking tube 9 between the customer and the bank employe on opposite sides of the bulletproof partition 5 and at the same time bullets cannot be fired through this speaking tube by a robber in attempting to hold up the bank.

Secured to the outer plate 7 is an outwardly open trap door 21 which is held by means of a spring so as to close the gun port 8 and prevent the forcing of the barrel of a firearm through the gun port from the outside into the cage but permits the bank employee to force the barrel 22 of a firearm through the port to prevent the escape or success of a robber holding up the bank. This trap door is preferably mounted and constructed as follows:

Adjacent the upper part of the gun port- 8 which is preferably of inverted key hole form,

' the front plate 7 is thickened to provide bulges 23 and in these thickened portions 23 a horizontal pintle 24: of substantial diameter is mounted. The trap door 21 is carried by this pintle and for strength the upper end of the trap door is thickened and rounded along the pintle, as indicated at 25. The trap door is supported at its opposite sides only on the pintle 2t and between these side bearings, the rear side of the trap door is cut away, as indicated at 26 so that a helical spring 27 can be placed around the pintle 2 1 and housed with in the upper thickened portion of the trap door. One end 28 of this spring bears against the uppermost rear edge of the trap door and its other end 29 extends horizontally rearward and bears against the upper side of a shoulder 30 formed integrally with the front plate 7 and bridging the upper end of the gun port 8. It is apparent that since one end 29 of the spring 27 is anchored on the:

front plate 7 and since its other end 28 bears outwardly on the trap door 21 above the pintle 24, the lower end of the trap door is yieldingly held closed by the helical spring 27.

This spring 27 is of substantial strength andyjfifl the edges of the trap door 21 are preferably set flush with the front face of the front plate 7 so as to prevent the robber from prying open the trap door by means of a pen knife or like instrument. This trap door is also preferably made of bronze or some other nonmagnetic material so that a magnet could not be applied to the trap door by the robber and the trap door opened by such means. In trap doors of this character, however, as heretofore constructed, it was possible for a robber to apply a suction cup to the trap door and by means of such suction cup to draw the trap door open and fire upon the bank employes in the cage. Such a suction cup is shown by dotted lines in Fig. Land comprises a cup shaped rubber body 31 having a knob 82 at its top. Such a suction cup could be operated to open a smooth-faced trap door by placing its rim upon the trap door forcing the cup inwardly so as to distort it and force out its contained air and upon then drawing the cup outwardly the trap door could be opened, there being a vacuum seal established between the rim of the cup and thesmooth face of the trap door.

To frustrate such an attempt the trap door, according to the present invention, is preferably bulged outwardly at its center, as indicated at 33, and is also roughened so that a* seal could not be established between it and a suction cup. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, roughening is effected by providing narrow corrugations 34: on the outer face of the trap door 21, these corruga- 1125 as to effect a vacuum seal between the cup and the trap door since the valleys of the corrugations 34 would at all times provide channels to prevent the formation of a vacuum in the inside of the rubber cup 31 applied to this .surface. It is also apparent, however, that such roughening could take a wide variety of forms such as by providing a diamond surface or roughening it in any manner to provide sufficiently large projections on the outer face of a trap door which would prevent the sealing of a Vacuum cup upon the outer surface of the trap door.

From the foregoing it is apparent that the present invention provides a combined speaking tube and gun port of a bullet-proof partition which entirely protects a bank employee or the like from being injured by a firearm forced through the gun port by a robber and at the same time permits the bank employee to force a firearm through the fixture in the opposite direction and frustrate the robber. At the same time the present inven tion provides such a one-way gun port which does not permit of the robbers frustrating the purpose of the bank fixture by the use of a pen knife, magnet, suction cup or other mechanical devices.

I claim as my invention:

1. A bank fixture of the character described, comprising a body adapted to be fitted in a partition or the like and having a gun port therein, an outwardly opening trap door carried by said body, means yieldingly holding said trap door in a closed position over said opening, the outer surface of said trap door being roughened to prevent the effective application thereto of a suction cup for the purpose of drawing said trap door open.

2. A bank fixture of the character described, comprising a body adapted to be fitted in a partition or the like and having a gun port therein, an outwardly opening trap door carried by said body, means yieldingly holding said trap door in a closed position over said opening, the outer surface of said trapdoor being corrugated to prevent the ef fective application thereto of a suction cup for the purpose of drawing the trap door open.

3. A bank fixture of the character described, comprising a body adapted to be fitted in a partition or the like and having a gun port therein, an outwardly opening trap door carried by said body, means yieldingly holding said trap door in a closed position over said opening, the outer surface of said trap door being formed to bulge outwardly and being roughened to prevent the effective application thereto of a suction cup for the purpose of drawing said trap door open.

4. A bank fixture of the character described comprising a front plate and a rear plate and means for holding said plates to the opposite sides of a partition or the like and around an opening therein, said plates being provided with gun ports registering with one another and the margin in the gun port of the outer plate being beveled, a forwardly opening trap door carried by said front plate, means between said front plate and trap door for yieldingly holding said trap door in a closed position over said opening, the edges of said trap door being beveled to fit the beveled margin of said gun port and the said edges of said trap door being flush with the front face of said front plate when the trap door is closed, the front face of said trap door being roughened to prevent the effective application thereto of a suction cup for the purpose of drawing said trap door open.

5. A bank fixture of the character de scribed, comprising a front plate and a rear plate and means for holding said plates to the opposite sides of a partition or the like and around an opening therein, said plates being provided with gun ports registering with one another and the margin in the gun port of the outer plate being beveled, a forwardly opening trap door carried by said front plate, means between said front plate and trap door for yieldingly holding said trap door in a closed position over said opening, the edges'of said trap door being beveled to fit the beveled margin of said gun port and the said edges of said trap door being flush with the front face of said front plate when the trap door is closed, the front face of said trap door being roughened to prevent the effective application thereto of a suction cup for the purpose of drawing said trap door open, and said plates also being formed to provide registering speaking openings and baflie means carried by the rear plate for preventing the firing of bullets through said speaking openings.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

CHARLES A. SCHEELER. 

